VMware vSphere Reviews

Pros on the VMware Server are- 1) Centralized management and configuration 2) Remote management and headless operation available 3) VMotion feature helps in real time movement of virtual machines from one server to the other 4) Automated scanning and patching of hosts 5) VSphere DRS for continuous monitoring resource pool utilization 6) Can be integrated with Windows Server Active Directory 7) Easy to use high availability and fail over clustering

Few cons of VMware Server are 1) It is available for free so bug resolution and patch management takes time 2) Poor memory management 3) Requirement for supported SCSI and SATA controllers

One of the cutting edge virtualization technologies offered by VMware works on platforms like Windows, Linux, and Solaris. It facilitates an application developer to test applications on virtual machines with ease of configuration and management. It provides visibility at each and every level of virtual infrastructure.

Virtualization, VDI and application publishing are the most valuable features of VMware vSphere.

The solution’s pricing is too high and could be improved.

I have been working with VMware vSphere for more than five years.

VMware vSphere is a very stable solution.

VMware vSphere is a scalable solution.

The solution's technical support team is good because if we open a priority ticket, they call within 30 minutes.

Positive

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

VMware vSphere can be installed in just two days for a normal project. However, it would take at least three months to implement everything, depending on the scope of the customer's requirements.

The solution’s licensing terms keep changing, which is too complex for our customers. If a user purchases a new license, it cannot be mixed with the existing perpetual license.

Overall, I rate VMware vSphere an eight out of ten.

We use vSphere to host all of our business applications, as well as our in-house developed applications. We also use it for the software components that support our IT team.

The core components are the most valuable aspect of this solution. The fact that we have the ability to easily scale out, and the ability to do maintenance on the underlying hardware without impacting our business applications, are important aspects. In general, we have better control over what kind of systems are impacted when we make changes.

The challenge that we have is keeping the system up to date, as well as having the internal resources to maintain that platform. We're not an IT company, so it's challenging for us to keep the IT resources in-house. It is for this reason that we are now investigating public cloud offerings.

We would like to see VMware move in the direction of having a working model on the application level. The next level of virtualization, most likely container solutions, is what we're interested in. That would avoid us having to support the operating system and tooling. Overall, it would make it easier for us from a customer perspective to use it.

This is a fairly stable product.

Absolutely, vSphere is scalable. We have approximately 4,500 users connecting to this system and we increase our usage by approximately 10% per year.

The technical support is a combination of VMware and our integrator.

If we have major issues or we are making major changes, we typically go through the integrator. They have a partnership with VMware.

We typically deal with the less severe or impacting changes and issues. In general, that goes pretty well. The software is pretty well documented, so usually, we have a quick fix if we run into problems.

We did not work with another similar solution prior to this one.

Our deployment was a project that took a couple of weeks. It was not major. The last upgrade went smoothly, as well. In general, the time that it took to put things in place was acceptable.

Our only complaint about the implementation is about having the resources with the requisite knowledge. That's our biggest challenge.

We use an integrator to do the initial implementation. In case we have major changes to make, we will again hire the integrator to do that work.

With respect to our return on investment, this product is definitely worth it. It is not cheap and there is a cost associated with additional licenses, but there are not very many options.

The cost of the licenses is acceptable and we haven't seen any major increases from the vendor in the time we've been using it. This is not a cheap product but it's an investment.

There is a cost associated whenever we need to add licenses.

We reviewed a couple of options and at that point in time, VMware was one of the strongest players. This was especially true because they had a lot of partners and integrators in the region, which quickly led us to choose them. Selecting another solution would be more challenging for us, especially in getting the required support.

I don't think that we're going to expand further or improve upon our current solution. We are now investigating to what extent the public cloud offerings are a better match or solution for our use cases.

In summary, this is a very stable solution and it has been that way for years. So far, it's been a very good fit. The only question is today, is it still worthwhile investing in on-premise solutions, or are cloud solutions at a level where we can move production nodes to it? That's basically our question and I'm guessing a question that a lot of other companies are asking themselves.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

On-premises

We use VMware vSphere to deploy servers.

VMware vSphere is user-friendly and simple.

The solution could improve by having more integration.

I have been using VMware vSphere for approximately 10 years.

The solution is stable and has good performance.

VMware vSphere is scalable.

I have approximately 1,000 users using this solution.

The technology has been fine.

We have a two-person technical team consisting of a technician and a security administrator.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate VMware vSphere a ten out of ten.

On-premises

VMware vSphere is primarily used for server virtualization and automation.

The most valuable features are the virtualization and the performance on the virtualization platform.

Both the price and the licensing fee are expensive, especially for our clients with a smaller workload.

I have been working with VMware vSphere for 14 years.

We have versions ranging from ESX 3.0 to the most recent one.

We have clients who use various deployment methods, including cloud, hybrid, and on-premises. 

VMware vSphere is a reliable solution.

It is easy to scale.

We scale with VMware vSphere as well as vSAN.

We have customers with hundreds of servers running on vSphere.

We have contacted technical support many times.

Technical support is responsive. I would rate them an eight or nine out of ten.

We are system integrators. We use a wide range of hardware and products.

On a daily basis, we work with servers, virtualization, VMware, and EMC storage boxes, as well as pure storage.

Our clients have tried Hyper-V as well and other solutions, but the consistency is better and there are fewer issues with the vSphere interface.

The initial setup is not complex. 

It may be complex for the users, but not for the IT person; it is not a problem, and at all difficult

The licensing and pricing need to be improved. 

The price is not an issue for our mid-sized or large-sized customers, but it can be expensive for our smaller customers.

Virtualization fulfills the requirements very well.

I would rate VMware vSphere a 10 out of 10.

Public Cloud

We use VMware vSphere on our main computer systems and we are using the Center Configuration Manager from VMware for the solution as well as vCenter for replication.

The most valuable feature is the tech manager from the utilization.

The virtualization this solution offers is very complete for the infrastructure. It meets our requirements and our needs.

It is very easy to operate.

The support for the latest version could be improved.

I have been working with VMware vSphere for ten years.

We began with version 4.0 and are now working with the most recent version.

VMware vSphere is a stable solution.

VMware vSphere is a scalable product.

Technical support from VMware is very comprehensive and helpful.

We use several solutions such as Microsoft Azure, Oracle, and we use VMware for our infrastructure.

We also have another solution for disaster recovery.

We used Microsoft Azure for testing with the model phone credit. It was for testing only.

In my opinion, the price is not cheap, nor it is expensive. It's average.

Currently, we are starting on study for implementing the software design network, and I am evaluating options because I want to know the latest information about the products.

We are also evaluating NSX to implement it in the future.

I would rate VMware vSphere a nine out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

We have implemented VMware vSphere a lot which is used for Server Virtualization. It has reduced the number of equipment that we need to use in the data centers servers, such as HP, IBM, Dell, and many others. We can use this solution for many use cases, even storage.

We have been able to reduce the amount of time between implementations and the number of systems needed which has allowed us to focus that time somewhere in our organization.

The solution is user-friendly. It is easy to convert, create, and manage systems.

On the older version of VMware vSphere, possibly version four, we had a feature that allowed us to backup Ziploc machines. It has not been available in the newer version such as six or seven. I have been looking for another solution to accomplish the backups but they should bring back this plugin-type tool to allow older backup capabilities.

I have been using this solution for approximately eight years.

The solution is stable.

The solution is easy to scale.

We use Microsoft Hyper-V.

The installation is straightforward. 

I have recently implemented version seven and I am monitoring the differences from five to seven.

We have found sometimes when we have some instability it is difficult to get support for the specific issue.

We have saved money from reducing the number of systems needed, the time it takes for someone to do implementations, and the electricity used for the systems.

My advice to those wanting to implement the solution is to make sure they read and know exactly what the solution does, and if there were updates from the previous version they have used, understand the changes before implementing.

I rate VMware vSphere a nine out of ten.

We deliver this solution to our customers and we partner with the vendor. I'm a senior infrastructure solution specialist. 

This is a straightforward solution, there's not much troubleshooting required and the work around it is quite simple. I particularly like the virtualization and the ability of the solution to optimize and deliver an automated and orchestrated cloud platform on-prem. They regularly surprise us with great features developed by a very, very sharp R&D team that delivers up-to-date technology with more features and more valuable ideas to enhance and automate the platform with data center.

If you're converting from any other virtualization system to VMware, you will note that the price is significantly higher. 

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

The solution is scalable to an unlimited number of hosts.

Technical support is very helpful. They don't deliver the troubleshooting directly, but they understand and collect the logs and provide the procedure to follow in order to reach a solution.

The initial setup is straightforward. VMware is a very, very easy system to implement and to administer, as long as you have at least some sort of experience. You don't need to be an expert but those who have a high-level knowledge of VMware can manage and deliver the crucial tasks. 

There are different licensing costs depending on whether you're using the standard or enterprise solution. A socket in the standard solution might cost $1,000 whereas it would cost $4,000 for the enterprise socket. 

I rate this solution a nine out of 10. 

On-premises